“This is a bad season, a very bad season,” says the city’s acting highway chief Bob Benoit. Benoit isn’t talking about snow, which has been tough enough for city crews, but the condition of roads. So far this year, Benoit estimates the city has filled 1,000 potholes, using a total of four tractor loads of cold patch. That’s triple the numbers of last winter. He said two crews are doing the job and that as of Monday, when an asphalt plant re-opened, the city is using hot patch that does a better job. A spokesman for the Department of Transportation also said this has been a tough winter on roads. Claims resulting from damages are about double of last year. He said at least two crews for each of the state’s seven districts are filling potholes and he urged people to report potholes on state roads [numbered roads] by calling 222-2450 during working hours or 222-2378 after hours. The pictured pothole, appropriately marked and waiting to be filled, is on Post Road.